This document is Catherine Cooling's event design portfolio summarizing her experience from 2008-2009. It includes examples of collateral and theming, room theme and design, social media use, e-invitations and online registration, registration and assigned seating, experiential events, partnerships, and endorsements from past supervisors praising her work.
2. CATHERINE COOLING Collateral + Theming___________ The Great Healthcare Debate included an x-ray “Your Diagnosis” survey and, more surprisingly, a registration desk with a scrub-wearing medical staff admitting you into a hospital and seating you at the appropriate ward.
3. CATHERINE COOLING Room Theme + Design _________ The Experience Economy CEO Breakfast with Jim Gilmore included actual items to identify each association CEO (a toaster to represent the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers’ CEO) instead of a name badge. The goal was to facilitate assigned seating and conversation. The 10 Big Ideas to Boost Attendance at Your Next Meeting event used tent cards instead of a formal registration, playfully allowing the attendee to write their own name. The “good idea bells” were rung when anyone came up with a big idea. Tall, white chairs distinguish the presenters from the audience. Energy drinks create an atmosphere of excitement, and stopwatches are used as a prop for an exercise.
4. CATHERINE COOLING Social Media________ _________ In order to communicate and connect on a deeper level with our clients, we have been blogging and posting information on our events on LinkedIn and Facebook. These tools are already very important for event communications. In addition to social networking, I recently worked to debut a new service available to our clients: livecasting, or live webcasting, from our office studio. This service allows us to reach and connect with more than just our DC and Chicago clients.
5. CATHERINE COOLING E-Invitations + Online Registration The use of e-mail invitations and online registrations streamlined event communications and facilitated the registration process, thus increasing the number of registrants. Re-formatting the information into different sections increased its readability and usefulness.
6. CATHERINE COOLING Registration + Assigned Seating_ In addition to the specific theme of each event, I created a system to facilitate the registration process and include assigned seating. Due to attrition for unpaid events and a need to assign seating, each attendee is given one of the allotted seating cards (four are shown at right) and are seated at the corresponding table top sign (shown below). When the tickets are gone for one table, we shuffle the remaining attendees into open seats.